What will you do?

There is a lot of work to be done in this world, injustice is happening everywhere, and education needs spread. Social injustice, Environmental injustice, Unlivable Cities, Food Deserts, Inadequate Healthcare, Poverty, Nescience, Pollution, Lack of Biodiversity; the list goes on and each problem somehow ties hand in hand; there is a direct connection to almost all societal problems. There is a root problem to all these problems, and it is an elusive and unconscious creation of the human mind that manifests into the rapid paced, capitalistic, competitive, and dominating culture that we live in. It’s a product of a mixture of common factors such as ego, fear, the monkey mind, with a dash of “colonizer karma” passed down since way before these lands were unrightfully stolen from the natives. We live in a system dominantly based on the idea of currency and “free market,” but if I grow my own food and produce my own power, the need for money goes down. Unfortunately, we’re sold on the fact we need a lawn filled with herbicides and pesticides that makes nutrients in that soil scarce because it’s good for the economy, and if we do garden it needs to be in neat rows in a pretty box made of lumber. I’ve made a garden bed out of large branches that looked awesome, didn’t cost me a penny. But society has it’s norms of conformity. Like don’t talk to your neighbors or play outside; stay in and watch tv or scroll on your cell phone because that’s good for the economy. Buy prepackaged garbage to eat, don’t bother learning the cheaper alternative which is how to cook healthy homecooked meals because that helps the economy. Don’t buy local food even though that would give average people around you more power to grow their operations. Instead eat food grown 500 miles away injected with chemicals and preservatives that degrade soil because simply because it is one dollar cheaper than the local organic alternative and then this way when the next political election happens, farmers, chemical companies, trucking companies, and other big businesses can fund political campaigns to help fund their destructive practices. Also, the government will give you free healthcare if you promise to earn a very miniscule amount of money annually but ironically almost no doctors will accept your insurance and if you do go to a doctor, they won’t tell you to eat healthy or exercise because what good does that do for the economy? Your insurance will let you go to urgent care centers though, but unfortunately, they are like the fast food of medical care, cheap fast and barely keep you alive. Finally, it’s so normal that there’s so much intentional sprawl in this country you’re practically forced to buy a car which is just one more financial burden while you drive past the countless miles of grass lawns that are biological wastelands that hardly support earthworms, not to mention pollinators, birds, or practically anything else. These problems are for practically everyone, I didn’t even scrape the surface of racial inequality in this country which will take things much deeper. I take no political stance, they act like it’s just a reality TV show, but in a world ran by money, does that not have a sense of control over people like the communist ways we as Americans despise so much? Do the problems above sound like we have freedom anymore? The divide in the United States is evident but could the need for different political parties in a country be because there are a variety of different people, in different, situations, that have different needs? Could it be true that the best way is a mixture of ways working together as one? The nature of life is flow and change. The moment things become stagnant; they’re dying. Still water grows germs, moving water stays clean. Beating heart good, stopped heart means death. Noticing that all societal problems come from the same root is good, we do not have to try to fix everything. If we can just focus on for example, cities being more livable it will fix a variety of problems. Livable cities are lively cities; proven that mixed use buildings, effective public transportation, green public spaces, and walkability/bike ability solve health problems, equality issues, social justice issues, environmental justice issues, bring communities together, and life back to the people; It makes life more affordable, less stressful, and more enjoyable. This concept reminds me of an old yogic saying that if you focus one aspect of health the rest of the body will fall in line. But we need to educate people, we need to speak up, and we need to stand out. In “The Mysterious Stranger” by Mark Twain 1916, one of his lead characters, an all-knowing angel, during a stoning of someone innocent that a young boy, another lead character, was forced to participate in, say to the human boy “Only 2 people (out of the 20 or 30) here actually wanted to throw their stones at them. Like you did, humans simply tend to follow whoever is the loudest and most threatening.” And Twain is onto something. A person will not be themselves, do what they want to do, or say what they want to say, while not hurting anyone, just because someone can make fun of them of possibly worse. Revolutionary ideas are left unsaid because of this, and this baboonish dominator behavior needs to stop, but it is up to us to speak up for what we believe is right despite the ape-like-humans. It is usually the gentle ones that have the most positive and progressive ideas about which direction humanity should take in life but yet are also the quietest and nonconfrontational. For anyone reading this who wants to speak out; Are you aware of what needs to be said? Are you aware that people of color have an 80% less chance of having easy access to a safe area of nature to walk like a park, or to own their own land, let alone a good piece of farmland or prime real-estate? Are you aware that an average of 70% of Nutrional value in fresh produce has gone down in the last 50 years due to inorganic agricultural practices that are destroying the soil it’s grown on just to maximize output? Positive change that happens when you shop locally, garden at home, and support community gardens. To quote Ron Finley, the Gangster Gardener, “Growing your own food, is like printing your own money,” Positive change happens when you walk, ride your bike, or take the bus/subway to where you’re going instead of driving. There’s a huge debate about what’s better gas or electric; if you live in the city neither, ride a bike. Positive change happens when we shop sustainably in bulk departments and cut out the plastic. It’s the way we live and the way we are that affect everything around us. Live simply, live intentionally, at the deliberate pace of nature, Not the heedless pace of man. Transform yourself into a person that is loving, compassionate, joyful, open minded, and that will speak their own mind if they feel it will make a true positive change in the world. There’s plenty to do; what will you do?